


Family Matters

by thearrowavenger (DestielHasThePhoneBox)



Series: Family Ties [2]
Category: DCU, DCU (Comics), Superboy (Comics), Supergirl (TV 2015), Superman (Comics), Superman - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Family, Family Feels, Gen, Luthor Family Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-22
Updated: 2018-01-22
Packaged: 2019-03-08 02:49:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13448949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DestielHasThePhoneBox/pseuds/thearrowavenger
Summary: Kon learns the truth about his heritage and finds someone to talk to.Or, Kon-El blasted into Kara's life instead of Mon-El in season 2 (part 2).





	Family Matters

**Author's Note:**

> Whoops, I wrote a sequel to my Family Ties ficlet. This doesn't happen right after the previous one, but hopefully it's not too hard to follow.

“I’m going to stop you,” Kon said, stepping forward with all the easy confidence of an indestructible teenager. Half a dozen dudes with guns aimed at him just wasn't all that threatening when he was bulletproof.

“Stop me?” Lillian laughed. She leaned back against the weapon, looking as casual and at ease as if they were chatting over coffee, rather than meeting over an alien weapon with which she was planning to kill hundreds of innocents. “Why would you want to stop me? You should be helping me.”

Kon blinked at that. “Uh,” he started, squinting at her, “did you miss the memo where I’m a superhero and you’re, like, a crazy villain who keeps trying to kill people?”

Lillian wasn’t fazed. Rather than realizing he was right, she took a calm step toward Kon, her hands held out to him in a sign of peace and a smile on her lips.

“Kon, we’re family,” she said casually, as if that was supposed to make sense to him. “We should be working together, not against each other.”

“We’re what?” Kon asked. He put his hands on his hips. “I’m Superman’s clone, not yours.”

For the first time, Lillian looked surprised, her eyes widening minutely, her mouth open.

“You don’t know,” she said, practically a whisper. “She didn’t tell you?”

“Who? What the heck are you talking about?” he demanded. “And when is the fighting going to start? I didn’t come to hang out.”

He raised his fists, ready to start fighting, but she didn’t react and none of her goons jumped out to fight either.

“I’m not going to fight you, dear,” she said. “I helped bring you to life. I care about you. And I thought you knew—”

“No,” Kon exclaimed. “No, you don’t get to act like just because you people made me in a lab that I’m somehow one of you. We’re not family and I’m not here to talk. Now get away from that thing or I’ll be forced to hit an old lady.”

“You won’t hurt me,” she told him confidently. A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth and then disappeared as she continued. “And I don’t mean that just because Cadmus made you. I’m honestly surprised that Supergirl never told you. What is it that she and Superman are always espousing? Truth, justice and the American way? It somehow doesn’t seem that truthful to keep your heritage from you.”

“I already know all about my heritage,” Kon said, frustrated and wanting to stop talking already. He didn’t like where she was going with this and he didn’t want to hear anymore. For some reason, though, he didn’t try forcing her away from the weapon and arresting her yet, and not just because of the lackies with guns trained on him.

“You’re not just a clone,” she said, her voice full of sympathy. “Superman’s DNA wasn’t the only DNA we used to make you. Didn’t you ever notice that your powers were different from his and Supergirl’s? Didn’t you want to know why?”

“It’s because of the cloning process,” Kon said, parroting back the words he’d heard from Kara and the DEO. He didn’t feel so certain anymore.

Lillian took a step toward him and he found he couldn’t move to step back. He felt frozen to the spot with an increasing sense of dread, the urge to fight leaving him as Lillian slowly revealed information he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

“My sweet boy,” she said, raising her hand slowly to touch his face. He flinched at the touch, but didn’t stop her. “The other half of your DNA is from my son. You are a Luthor, Superboy.”

“That’s not true,” Kon argued, stepping away from her hand. “Lex Luthor is not my dad. I’m Superboy. I’m a hero.”

“Lex is a hero too,” Lillian said, her nostrils flaring and her eyes flashing with anger. The look was gone almost as soon as it had been there and she lowered her hand back down to her side. Her face quickly became a mask again, her eyes kind and her brows tilted up sympathetically.

“Your father is a hero,” she told him, voice even and confident.

“Hurting people doesn’t make you a hero,” Kon argued, shaking his head. His ears felt hot and his eyes prickled, but he was sure he wasn’t going to cry. He was mad, why would he cry? “It just makes you a bad guy.”

“And what about lying?” Lillian asked. “Supergirl knew about your heritage and kept it from you. Why would she do that?” She paused, reached her hand out again, as if to touch him, and then thought better of it. Her brow was pinched and her lips pulled together like she was sad for him She looked like she was pitying him when she started speaking again.

“It’s because she doesn’t trust you,” Lillian told him, voice full of sympathy. “Maybe we aren’t heroes. Not yet. But I trust you and I know that you could help Cadmus do good. You could help me save the world. Together, we could do it the right way.”

Kon had her pressed against the wall before he had even thought about doing it.

“I’ll never help you,” he snarled, holding her by the lapel of her expensive looking jacket. “Now, tell me how to disable that thing and I won’t have to hurt you.”

“My dear boy,” Lillian said, still looking unruffled and self-assured. “You can’t stop us. I’m going to save the world and I’m going to do it for you.”

 _“No—”_ Kon started. Lillian looked disappointed, her eyes sad and her lips pressed into a thin line, but she didn’t look afraid or like she thought he could actually take her in.

“Red sun.”

Kon blinked in confusion and then opened his eyes again to find that Lillian was gone and so was the weapon.

“What the—?” he started to ask, whirling around to look at his surroundings. It was disorienting to find that everything had been stripped from the warehouse. What had before looked like a high-tech command center filled with Cadmus agents, was now a barren, cement space with nothing but the walls and the ceiling left from what Cadmus had been occupying.

He didn’t understand. They couldn’t have moved that fast. So then what happened?

He was still staring at the complete lack of scene in front of him when Kara touched down a few minutes later.

“Kon, thank Rao, you’re okay,” she gasped, immediately running to him and throwing her arms around him. Kon didn’t return the hug, couldn’t bring himself to move.

“We’ve been looking for you for hours,” Kara said, pulling away enough just to meet his eyes, but keeping her hands on his arms.

“How did you find me?” Kon asked, his voice flat. He felt empty looking at her. Usually being with her made him feel proud and safe and happy. He had wanted to be just like her, but now all he could hear was Lillian Luthor’s voice in his ear, asking why she didn’t tell him the truth. Why didn’t she trust him?

“Your tracker finally came back online,” Kara told him, raking her hands through his hair gently before pulling him in again to hug him. “I was so worried. We all were. Please don’t ever run off like that again.”

“Why does the DEO have trackers on me?” Kon asked, pulling away from her.

Kara frowned in confusion. “The DEO keeps trackers on all of its agents,” she said. “I even have one. You knew that. It’s to keep us safe.”

“Is it?” Kon asked, no longer so sure that what Kara said was always the truth. “Or is it because I’m—I’m not.” He swallowed, not sure he could say it out loud yet. But he had to. He had to know the truth. He took a deep breath. “Are you tracking me because I’m a Luthor?”

Kara’s eyes widened with shock. “Kon, no,” she gasped. “Is… who told you that? Was Lillian Luthor here?”

“Yeah,” he said, his voice shaking in a way he wished it wasn’t. “She was. And she told me the truth.”

“You can’t listen to her,” Kara said sharply. Her forehead was wrinkled with anger, jaw clenched and lips tight, while her hands clenched into fists. Then she seemed to notice what she was doing because she took a deep breath and relaxed her features into something closer to calm before continuing. Her voice was even when she told him, “She was trying to hurt you.”

“Is it true though? Am I really part Luthor?”

Kara didn’t answer immediately but her lips pulled wide and tight with guilt, giving her away in her moment of hesitation.

“She was right,” Kon murmured. He shook his head, feeling like the ground beneath him wasn’t so stable after all. The person he’d thought he could trust most in the world and she had lied to him.

“She was right,” Kon repeated, louder this time, stepping away from her. His eyes felt hot and the world looked blurry, but he went on. “You lied to me. You didn’t trust me.”

“That’s not true,” she argued, arms moving up as if to reach out for him again before she thought better of it and lowered them back to her sides. “I do trust you.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me the truth?” he demanded, crossing his arms over his chest defensively. He felt like he was shaking apart and didn’t know how to hold himself together anymore. “You knew and you didn’t tell me.”

“I didn’t want to hurt you, Kon,” she promised him, taking a half step toward him before stopping herself when he flinched. “I was trying to protect you.”

“I don’t believe you,” he said, backing away from her. He looked at her for another moment, took in the pity in her eyes and found that he couldn’t stand the thought of being with her for another minute. A second later and he had blasted out of the building.

She didn’t follow, which was good, since he knew that she could fly faster than him, but he really couldn’t stand the thought of being in her presence anymore.

He didn’t know where he was going at first, just flying aimlessly and letting the cool air help calm him down. It wasn’t until he saw the giant globe on the roof of the Daily Planet building that he realized that he’d flown all the way back to Metropolis.

The L-Corp building here was shaped like an L from above and, though the sign had been changed, Kon could see where the old LuthorCorp sign used to hang. He landed on the roof and stared down at the city where he had first made his debut into the world. Back then, he had thought he was Superman because Cadmus put that information in his head. Everything he knew in the beginning was because Cadmus wanted him to know.

He had thought things had changed. He had thought he could trust his own mind now. He had learned so much since leaving Metropolis. He had seen more of the world during his publicity tour with Rex and Roxy and he had thought he found family with Kara. But now he understood that he didn’t know anything.

Lillian Luthor had done something to him that made him lose time while she and her goons apparently packed up and escaped and he couldn’t stop thinking about it. It felt like she had just turned him off, like he was some kind of robot with an off switch. Two words and he was completely helpless. What else could she make him do? Who else could trick him?

  
Tana, his first love, had used him for fame. Kara had lied to him. Even Rex and Roxy, he knew, mostly wanted him for money—though at least they were honest about it. Superman didn’t want anything to do with him, had practically kicked him out of Metropolis the first chance he got. Now Kon wondered if Superman had known the truth too. Maybe he had known that Kon was a Luthor all along, had known that Kon couldn’t be trusted to be his own person.

Nothing made sense anymore and he had no one to talk to. He couldn’t trust anyone to tell him the truth.

Except Lillian Luthor had told him the truth. She could apparently mind control him, but she had also told him the truth. Was it true that Lex Luthor thought of him as a son? Or was Lillian just manipulating him by calling him Kon’s father? It didn’t matter, of course. He couldn’t find her again even if he wanted to and he knew he wouldn’t be able to speak to Lex Luthor either, not while he was under house arrest during the trial.

There was someone else from that side of the family he could talk to, however.

+++

The sun had set on the west coast when Kon made it back to National City, but the lights were still on in the L-Corp building. Lena Luthor was sitting at her desk, typing something and looking pretty involved in her work, eyes fixed on her screen and fingers flying over the keyboard when Kon arrived. She perked up at the sound of his feet touching down and swung around with a smile on her face, hesitating when her eyes landed on him. Her face fell with disappointment when she realized it was him and then she smoothed out her features into something closer to expressionless.

Standing, she tilted her head to the side and gave him a smile that was undermined by her pinched eyebrows and slightly narrowed eyes. “Superboy,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting you. How can I help you?”

Kon walked into her office without responding at first, and instead looked around the room curiously. It was lacking in color, the whole room giving him the impression that someone had thrown bleach on it. The lack of color matched with the sleek, modern style, however. It was clearly the work of some designer and probably an expensive one. There was a noticeable lack of any personal features, like photos or even art that might speak to some personal tastes.  
He couldn’t help but compare it to Kara’s design sense. He knew exactly what Kara’s home and office looked like. She filled her surroundings with soft colors andbusy patterns, not to mention all of the little knick knacks she picked up whenever she went somewhere. None of it was really his style, but it occurred to him that maybe that was because he wasn’t just related to Kara. Maybe he didn’t like Kara’s design tastes because he was more Luthor than El.

Maybe it wasn’t that either, though, he thought as he looked around again. Lena’s office seemed impersonal and boring more than anything else.

“What was it like?” he asked, breaking the silence. He turned to look back at her in time to see her eyes widen. Maybe it was the question, or maybe it was the tone in which he asked it. He hadn’t ever formally met Lena, not as Superboy, but they’d been together before and she had to know already that he didn’t really ever use such serious tones.

“What was what like, Superboy?” she asked, voice even and wary of his unusual mood. She moved to her desk and sat down, gesturing for him to do the same. Kon accepted her offer and sat down opposite her, pulling his feet up onto the chair and wrapping his arms around his knees.

“Growing up a Luthor,” he said.

Her expression remained unchanged and she inclined her head minutely, so maybe she had figured out what he was trying to ask the first time.

“Now why do you ask that?” she asked, smiling at him like she already knew the answer, but wanted to hear his response anyway. “Surely you could read all about what it was like to grow up a Luthor in the news. I grew up in the spotlight, just like Lex. There are plenty of interviews online.”

Kon shook his head in frustration and met her eyes, noting the patience there, but couldn’t come up with a good answer to her question. He couldn’t bring himself to tell her why he wanted to know, couldn’t admit what he knew yet when he still felt so raw. He ducked his head, burying it his knees, just breathing and debating whether he should just go.  


Then she spoke.

“It was good, mostly.” She shifted and he could hear her seat moving like she had leaned back. “It was family. For all that my mother was cold, my father always made sure I knew how much he loved me. And Lex… before everything, before he went mad, he was always so kind. He was a good brother. He protected me when our mother got too harsh. He shielded me from his fights with our dad. He taught me so much about life and about what it meant to be a Luthor.”

Kon looked up at her again, propping his chin on his knees. “Do you miss him?” he asked.

Lena smiled at him, but she looked sad. “Yes, Superboy,” she said. “I miss my brother. I miss who he used to be. Before he decided to try to murder Superman.”

She studied him for a moment, eyes moving over his face with curiosity, and then said, “You look a little like he did, when he was younger. Did you know that? You have the same hair.”

“I thought Lex Luthor was bald,” Kon said, frowning at her and hating the idea that he might look at all like an evil supervillain. Besides, he knew he looked just like Superman. So she was just wrong.

“He wasn’t always,” Lena told him, a smile tugging at her lips. “He used to have curly hair. Red, not brown like yours. But it looked the same, until he lost it.”

“I’m not gonna lose my hair,” Kon said, appalled at the very idea and wondering suddenly if he maybe would.

Lena laughed when he began running his hands through his hair. “No, probably not,” she said. She gave him a look he didn’t know how to read and said, “Not that it would be a worry for you. My understanding is that you’re Superman’s clone and he still has a full head of hair. Not very curly though.”

Kon didn’t know what to say to that, suddenly realizing he almost gave away too much. Instead of responding, he shrugged.

“Lex was a good brother,” she said, going back to the original discussion. “He put family above everything else, though he still fought with Dad like they were worst enemies.”

“K—Supergirl says that… that you and your mom fight a lot too,” Kon said.

Lena let out a bark of a laugh. “Supergirl is right,” she said. “My mother and I have never gotten along. I recently found out why.” She gave him a searching look then and leaned over her desk. “Can I tell you a secret?”

Kon nodded.

“I wasn’t adopted at random, like I used to think,” she said. “My father, he had an affair. He cheated on Lillian with my mother.”

“Is that why—?” Kon started to ask, finding himself absorbed with Lena’s family drama.

“That’s why she could never really love me, yes,” Lena said, nodding and not quite meeting his eyes anymore. Her face was carefully bereft of any sign of emotion at all, her voice flat and far away. “All she ever saw when she looked at me was how my dad betrayed their marriage.”  
Like Superman, who barely ever spoke to Kon. Who, once he got back on his feet after Lex’s attack, demanded that Kon leave town. Maybe Superman had always known. Maybe that’s why no one had told Kon what Superman’s name was or that he even had another name until Kon realized it for himself. Was it the same? Did Superman hate him because of who his other parent was?

Maybe Superman saw his worst enemy when he looked at Kon, just like Lillian Luthor saw her husband’s betrayal when she looked at Lena.

“Do you still love her?” he asked, voice so quiet it was almost a whisper. He wasn’t sure what he wanted her to say, but the question suddenly seemed so important.

Lena touched her chin and looked thoughtful. “Yes,” she answered after a pause. “I wish I didn’t. But I do.”  
Kon stood abruptly, his mind spiraling as he thought about what this could mean for him. He needed to be alone, needed to think this through and decide how he felt about everything he had learned today.

“I—thank you,” he said, barely remembering the manners Kara had been trying to hammer into him. Kara, god. Just thinking about her brought the simmering anger to the forefront. “I… I should go.”

Lena bit her lip, concern clearly written on her face. “If you need to talk again,” she said, “my doors are always open.”

“Because you’re friends with Supergirl,” he said, thinking back to the disappointment on her face when she realized who was landing on her balcony earlier.

“No,” Lena answered, standing up. “Because you’re a good kid, Superboy. And I think we may have some things in common.”

The comment and the intelligence in her eyes as she studied him made him wonder if she saw too much. He wasn’t sure how comfortable he was with that, but he did have to admit that talking to her was nice. If he really was a Luthor, maybe he didn’t have to be an evil one. Maybe he could be like Lena.


End file.
